The Lost Room (2006)

Way back in 2006, a miniseries aired on what was then The Sci-Fi Channel.  It was called The Lost Room and was about an event, called The Event, that separated the titular room (and its contents) from reality.  Detective Joe Miller comes into possession of the room’s key, allowing him entry through any door that has a normal pin-and-tumbler lock.  When exiting the room, Joe finds that he can go anywhere he wants, provided he exits through a hinged door.  (If no location is selected, the room exits to a random door.)

The main action of the miniseries deals with Joe trying to get his daughter back out of the room.  Anna enters the room without the key.  When the door closes, the room resets with her in it.  Joe has to find a way to get her back out.  He has no proof that she’s still alive, but he has to make the effort.

Joe finds that there are at least 100 every-day objects that were part of The Event.  Each was given a special power when it’s taken out of the room.  A comb allows the user to freeze time for a few seconds.  A pencil creates a penny each time it’s tapped.  (There’s a pair of cufflinks that lowers blood pressure, although it’s admitted that it may be a placebo effect.)  All of the objects are indestructible outside of the room, allowing Joe to use an overcoat as a bullet-proof vest.

Different groups have different theories on what actually happened at 1:20:44 p.m. on May 4, 1961.  Some say God died.  Others say that physics broke down momentarily.  It’s not known what would happen if all of the objects were brought back into the room.  I’m assuming that they were all there at some point in the past.  They also lose their powers inside the room.

The miniseries was intended to be a back-door pilot.  The ending does allow the miniseries to stand on its own, but I would have loved to see it picked up.  The Lost Room got among the lowest ratings for a miniseries on Sci-Fi up to that point, so that wasn’t going to happen.  I also realize that it’s been 12 years, so I’m not holding my breath for The Lost Room:  The Next Generation.

This isn’t necessarily a crazy idea, though.  According to an interview, the intent was to have a new protagonist every so often, as the story was really centered on The Key.  It is conceivable that a new miniseries could be attempted with a new cast of characters.  I remember wanting so badly to find out what happened when the room filled up.  It was also great knowing that many of the objects either had no known use yet or had rather useless functions, like hard-boiling an egg.  (I’d love to get my hands on that pencil, if not The Key.)

I’m surprised that the miniseries didn’t do that well.  Friday the 13th: The Series had a similar premise and ran for three seasons.  Warehouse 13 also had a team that recovered wacky items and also ran for several seasons.  I’m not sure why those two had longer runs than The Lost Room.  (Maybe the trick is having a number in your title.)

At least the miniseries was released on DVD, which I was able to get through Netflix recently.  The Lost Room aired over three nights with a two-hour episode shown each night.  On the DVD, it’s broken up into six hour-long parts:  The Key, The Clock, The Comb, The Box, The Eye and The Prime Object.  Sci-Fi aired the first two hours as The Key and The Clock, which is how it’s listed on IMDb.  This is why the episodes alternate between having just opening credits and just closing credits.

I’d be careful about renting the miniseries.  This is one of those programs that if you fall in love with it, you’ll want more.  Like may other great one-season shows, The Lost Room has its followers and the followers want more.  I would love to see at least another miniseries.  Isn’t 12 years long enough?

IMDb page

To Love, Honor and Deceive (1996)

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

WARNING:  I’m going to pretty much give away everything.  If you’ve never seen this movie and have any interest in doing so, now would be a good time to do so.  If you want to know why you should skip it, then please read on.


I’ve often wondered why people would star in a made-for-TV movie.  Some are good, but many tend to fall flat.  I don’t know if the scripts aren’t good enough to make it to the big screen or if the people involved just don’t care.  To Love, Honor and Deceive is the perfect example of this

The movie starts with a happy family doing things that a happy family does.  Sydney is a mother thinking about going back to work, but really likes being there for her son, Adam.  Husband and Father Matthew works in the import/export business.  Matthew can’t spend that much time with Adam because he has to be in other countries for long spans of time.

Matthew decides to take Adam out on the boat, which seems innocent enough.  Problem is that, because of a bad storm, Matthew and Adam don’t make it back.  Police find the boat and enough stuff floating around that Matthew and Adam are presumed dead.

Sydney doesn’t buy it.  At first, it seems like she’s just grieving and can’t accept the loss of her family.  The FBI tells her to drop it.  Things get suspicious when she goes to visit Matthew’s parents.  She finds that they don’t exist, nor has anyone ever heard of Matthew.  (I find it odd that she never got suspicious when they weren’t at their own son’s wedding, nor did they have any contact with their soon-to-be-5-year-old grandson.)

After a little digging, she comes to realize that her husband had led another life and had essentially done the same thing to another woman.  Sydney pretty much writes off her husband, but wants her son back.  The FBI still denies everything.  No one will give her any information.  So, she sets off to find her son and eventually does.

There are a lot of questions that I have.  First, as I mentioned, it seems odd to me that she never met her in-laws.  From the sound of it, she never even got a phone call from them.  Since her son is turning 5, we can assume that they’ve been married at least that long.  They were probably dating for a while before that.  I would think that if you were going to marry someone, or at least have that kind of intent, you’d be better off saying that your parents had died.

Also, why is it that the FBI is always made out to be the bad guys?  They’re always the one withholding information and telling the local police what to do.  I always imagine some FBI agent sitting at home watching movies like this and yelling at the TV, “Oh, we’re not like that at all!!!”  The FBI really seems to get a bad reputation.

More importantly, Sydney has a best friend that apparently slept with her husband, but the best friend doesn’t even get a name.  You’d think that someone like that would at least be called by name at least once.  I will say that I wasn’t complaining that Rosalind Chao played the friend.  I’ve always liked her.

While watching the movie, I thought Sydney looked familiar.  It took me a while to realize that she had been on the TV series Las Vegas.  She and Chao were two of only a handful of actors that I realized from other things.  Many of the other actors were new to me.  While there was some good acting, I felt like the overall acting wasn’t that good.  The husband seemed a little flat at times.  Even in the one scene where he gets angry, it doesn’t seem like he’s really getting that emotional.

In fact, I’d say that the entire movie wasn’t that good.  I understand that her husband lied to her, but Sydney showed no interest whatsoever in getting him back, even if it was for a divorce.  I felt like it just happened.  There was no explanation over why she lost interest in him so quickly.

There’s no back story to the couple, which would have been nice, especially considering that the husband’s story wasn’t real.  (There should have been a lot of clues aside from missing parents.)  The movie was fairly disappointing and seemed to alternate between dragging out and being rushed.  I’d recommend avoiding this movie if you have a choice. 

IMDb page